If you’re looking for a western historical romance overflowing with funny banter and plenty of swooning, pick this up!!! An endearing, spicy, mail-order bride trope.

It’s set in Denver City, the Territory of Kansas in 1859, with a feisty heroine, Marigold (she’s replaced her sister Pearl—the intended mail-order bride), who is to be the grumpy hero Virgil Gardner’s new bride. After an 8-hour stagecoach ride from Topeka, upon meeting Virgil, Marigold lets it be known that she will be a caretaker for his three children.. but that she wants no part of marriage. She’d been there before.. got burned, her reputation ruined. Virgil is completely caught off guard by the change-up in brides, but needing someone desperately as a mother figure for his kids agrees to this new arrangement.. or at least until she figures out the harsh life of gold prospecting is too much for her.. and he then can finally find a bride and marry (which is what he intended in the first place).

I loved Marigold.. that she fell head over heels for the children and protected them with her life (against a bear!) The same goes for Virgil who’s actually a sweet teddy bear underneath all the mean facade he puts out to everyone. The best parts.. their BANTER IS HILARIOUS(!!!), their SECRET SWOONING for each other, and I ADORED Virgil’s growth as a father.. all had my HEART MELTING. Everyone around them could see the two were perfect for each other, and I couldn’t agree more. I also enjoyed the excellent descriptives of the beautiful, but dangerous ‘n wild frontier setting. So good! ❥ 4.5 stars — Pub. 3/28/23

Much thanks to Entangled Publishing via NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Historical romance. Pre-Civil War America. Standalone novel. Divorced and disgraced with nowhere to go, Marigold sets off to marry a stranger. Her sister had been set to be a mail order bride, but found another suitor, so Marigold takes her place and travels west. When she arrives, Virgil is angry to find a stranger instead of his bride, but takes her home with him anyway to keep house and care for his three children. They bicker and argue, but it’s clear that Marigold is good with the kids and adapts well to her primitive surroundings. It’s definitely a slow burn romance with lots of missteps (mostly from Virgil), but the writing is refreshingly humorous and you’ll appreciate the competence from both parties and willingness to work together. I had a great time reading this book and can’t wait to see more from this author in this setting.

Virgil and Marigold fit perfectly together.

Marigold is a woman ahead of her time. Not content to be seen and not heard, she is outspoken which gets her into trouble wherever she is. Marigold has escaped a horrible situation compounded by her past. She feels she needs this fresh start and when she believes her sister is better suited to stay in Topeka, she swaps places with her as a mail-order bride. Virgil, looking for someone to watch over his 3 children has advertised for a mail-order bride. Expecting Pearl, he is surprised to meet Marigold, who is nothing like her sister. Their first meeting sets the stage for their rocky relationship throughout a good portion of the book. They are at odds, yet need each other for various reasons. As they grow to depend on each other tentative trust builds. Yet it is easier to lose trust than it is to gain it.

I enjoyed the historical factors of gold mining and the politics of becoming a state in the Kansas territory in 1859. The right to vote and the suffragist movement although not delved into too deeply were mentioned as well. I loved the descriptions of living in a mining camp and the daily chores. But mostly I loved how much Virgil grew from grumpy and reticent to show any emotion, to an outwardly giving father and suitor. His vulnerability made my heart hurt for him and rejoice when he was able to overcome his past and open his heart to his children and Marigold. The banter between Virgil and Marigold had me chuckling, and the steamy times were swoon-worthy. Ms. Collins gave us a charming and steamy story not to be missed. I received an arc of this book through NetGalley, and this is my honest and voluntary review.

This was my first Dani Collins read and I really enjoyed it. Marigold was tired of living in a town that looked down on her because she was a divorcee. She decided to answer an ad her sister placed for a mail order bride in Rocky Mountain territory. When she arrived, she meets Virgil Gardner, her husband to be. He knows she is not the woman he sent for so they agree that she will care for his 3 children as a nanny. He has a motley group of friends/partners. He doesn’t even have a house. It’s a one room shack. She put her all into the situation by taking on the shack and the 3 children who are starved for love. Virgil is a grumpy individual and has no trust in Marigold. He’s just waiting for her to pack up and leave the hard life in the mountains. Marigold made the shack a home as best she could and gave the children the love they desperately needed. He was not a very warm father as he did not know the first thing about caring for his kids. When he sees how much Marigold cares for them and they come to love her he learns to show some affection for his children. This book was very well written and western romance is my favorite. There were some funny parts and also some sad where I got a bit teary. Totally enjoyable and I devoured this book as I could not wait to see how it all turned out. I would like to thank NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to review this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love a historical romance. I read a lot of that are set in high society England but I love finding ones set in the Wild West of the US.

Marigold is handed to a small mining camp near Denver to marry a man who is excepting her sister.

Sometimes Historical Romances can feel slow but this one had so much going on that I did not get bored of the story. I loved Virgil’s and Marigolds batter through out the story. Marigolds personality was amazing. She is not a shy little flower.

I can’t wait to read more by this author and hopefully we get a story with Pearl.

Such a delightfully great story full of funny scenes, tense scenes, and touching scenes. The character of Marigold is smart and a spitfire. Virgil may seem sullen and cranky but it is a mask to keep things steady at his mining camp. They play off each other creating a refreshing historical take on love.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was such a wholesome and fufilling romance.
This review may contain spoilers.
The heroine is an older sister of a pair of orphans from Pennsyvalnia. She had been married to a political figure of the town she lived in. After a few years of marriage, she walked in to find her husband again in bed with another woman. When she said she was done and for him to leave, he turned it around and divorced her based on her infidelity, not his. All of her "friends" that he has relations with spoke on his behalf stating that she was the adulterous one. She was unable to fight back. And this time, women weren't even able to vote. She and her sister moved with their uncle to Topeka and she threw herself into suffragettism while her uncle entered the local political races. The town was not ready for women's rights or activists, and showed their displeasure by burning down the house she shared with her uncle and sister. They had nothing. Her sister had answered an advertisement for a mail order bride and had received a ticket. But in the meantime, a wealthy man had begun courting her sister. So the heroine packed her borrowed clothing and used the ticket to start a new life. She arrived in the rural mining town that made up of a general store, saloons and tent-towns. She was lucky that the man who wrote the advertisement was in town picking up supplies. He is the hero. He is not happy that she is not her sister. After a round of negotiations, she agrees to go to his mining camp as a housekeeper and care giver for his three children. He had been married and left his wife in the East, while he moved West to find gold. After a few years, almost a decade,, he was earning money and sending it back when he received news that his wife has died in childbirth. He was told his wife had to take in a boarder and his third child was the result of the relationship. His older two children looked like him, but his youngest son was dusky skinned with wavy hair. His wife's brother had been caring for the kids while he sent money for their passage. But the hero loved all three of his children. He did not think it was fair that any prejudice his youngest son received was fair. His baby son was beautiful, engaging, loving and a little mischievous angel. His older children were scared everytime they were separated from him. They needed to love of a good mother and that is what he expected.
This was an awesome book. I was engaged from the first page. I loved how descriptive the story was. It was very well written about how people lived at that time. How people dealt with no running water. How they lived in a one room shack, using an outdoor stove for all cooking. The children did not have any clothes or toys and once the heroine came, she was able to barter writing letters for the miners to earn money for clothes. She made mattresses from flour sacks. She made a doll from a sugar sack. This was a story that really dealt with living in the Old West on the frontier with little to no resources.
I give this story 5 stars and highly recommend reading.

This was a great, quick read! Marigold takes the place of her sister and heads out to Denver City to marry a prospector, Virgil, who needs someone to take care of his three children. Well, between their strong personalities and the harsh reality of living so far from civilization, there were many pitfalls. I won't lie, the simple (but hard life) sounds somewhat romantic... You will find yourself rooting for them! I know I did. Thank you Netgalley!

Summary:
Marigold Davis is a divorcee coming out west to Denver to replace her sister as basically a mail-order bride. Virgil Gardner is the rough and tough part-owner of a mining company, and needs a wife to look after his children. When he meets Marigold however, he refuses to marry her, instead taking her on as a housekeeper. That of course doesn't stop them from being deeply attracted to one another... and it goes from there.

Some background:
I have definitely read some of Dani Collins's Harlequin Presents stories, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found out she wrote HR as well. I've admittedly not read a lot of frontier romances, but I'm always eager to read more HR set in the United States (this one is set in Denver in 1859), which is why I requested an ARC of this book.

My review:
I really enjoyed this story and the setting, even when it mildly stressed me out. Listen, frontier life is tough. I'm not surprised Dani employed the "huddle for warmth" trope which resulted in Virgil getting hard for Marigold within like, the first 3 chapters because they literally had to huddle. For warmth. But on a deeper level, when you're in this survival mindset, it leads to a lot of emotional intimacy, which Dani built on really well, without sacrificing the lust aspect.

Both Virgil and Marigold started off with trust issues, especially since they both had former spouses who cheated on them. Now Marigold is in this position where she's not only getting to know this man better, but she also needs to take care of Virgil's children while interacting with a miner town where there's like, no women (cue Virgil'a jealousy/insecurities). Regarding the kids themselves, there was a lot about them, but I can't say it really hindered the plot for me. The only time children really bother me in HR is when they're like, weirdly precocious or basically exist to get the hero and heroine together, which wasn't the case here.

As for Marigold's insecurities, she was married to a shitty man before, so a lot of the plot is her coming to see that Virgil is constant where her ex was, well, a bitch. On a side note, it was novel for me to read about a divorcee heroine who also believed in female and Black suffrage, and abolition. It's easy to write about these things in abstract when it comes to characters in HR but Marigold was literally in the thick of action since she was in the Kansas Territory in 1859.

The sex:
There were some damn good sexual tension between Virgil and Marigold, and I'm happy to say the follow-through was great— very well-written and very hot. There was a period in the book where they were getting somewhere sexually but Plot cockblocked them into a period of abstinence. But it worked because by the time they have (penetrative) sex for the first time (in hot springs!), it was not only hot, but very emotional and an expression of love as well. Virgil isn't quite a bit o'rough hero in the sack, but whatever he has going for him, it works.

Sex-wise, the high point was when he went down on her and the next morning he was, and I quote, so "drunk on pussy" he was dropping things and tripping over things. And this is after last night, right after he ate her out, when he basically couldn't contain himself so he ran outside and ejaculated in the grass. There's a winner right there, ladies.

Overall:
I would recommend this book for anyone and everyone, but especially HR readers looking to read outside their comfort zone, which is often times stories based in England with upper-class heroes and heroines in a ballroom setting. I personally will be looking into more American HR and more HR by this author!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Entangled Publishing for this ARC.

The Prospector’s Only Prospect is historical romance by Dani Collins

Marigold Davis traveled eight days by coach to meet Virgil Gardner. Circumstances aren’t what either of them expected, but could be what they wanted.

Good writing and good build up to a great romance. 4 out of 5 stars.

My thanks to Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. However, the opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine and mine alone.

One of the best historical fiction I have read this year. I enjoyed this book for many reasons, but mostly because of the main characters. I loved how well-developed both characters are and their growth throughout the story is remarkable, especially in the case of Virgil. He is one of the best characters I have come across in historical romance.
I liked the setting too. To be honest, I rarely read Western romance because I usually find the settings and situations to be tedious. But this book is different. It's easy to read and much to my delight, I enjoyed the story that's in the time of the Gold Rush.
The romance side of the story is well-written. It's not an instant love kind of story. Rather, Marigold and Virgil start as an employer and employee, then friends, and their relationship develops from there. Overall, it is perfect. The chemistry between the two is great and they complement each other in every way. Two people who have been hurt before and are wary of romance, find each other and decide to take a leap of faith.
The pacing was a bit slow for my taste but other than that the book is great. And I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I recommend it to all historical romance fans.

I enjoyed reading this book! Sure there's smut BUT I really appreciate the story.. I was really into the feeling of Marigold stared loving the kids and falling in love with Virgil.
I just can't imagine fully the settlement situation..

Thank you Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for the arc! 😘

A story set during the Denver Gold rush .
Virgil sent for a mail order bride but he didn't get who answered his letter.
Marigold wanted to escape her old life after divorce that did't go well.
She took her sisters place who decided not to go.
Virgi lwas surprise that the bride who came wasn't the one that answered the add.
THey get of to a rocky start each not expecting was it was really going to be like living together.
Can they find peace and happiness or will some thing unexpected prevent that.
Good history od the gold rush and sweet romance ,caring that grows.
Voluntarilt rewiewed.

The Prospector's Only Prospect is a Historical Western and follows the story of Marigold and Virgil. Marigold takes her sister's place as Virgil's mail order bride and wants to start afresh in a new place. Virgil is a curmudgeonly fellow who just wants someone who can keep house for him, take care of his children and have no effect on him.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had humour and banter, emotional moments and intense chemistry between the two main characters. The story moves along at a great pace, keeping the reader engrossed in what will happen next.

The Prospector's Only Prospect by Dani Collins
This is the story of Marigold Davis who traveled west to be a mail order bride for Virgil Gardner - the only problem is she is taking her sister's place. They have a rough start because he feels she lied to him, and his home is in bad shape and there are three children to care for, so laughs and tears, adorable children, strong attraction, steam and finally love that gets us to a very HEA.
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Tear-jerker Romantic Informative Page-turner Action-packed Easy-to-read Entertaining Witty Steamy Happily Ever After.

Sweet little Prarie romance. I really liked the growth of the male lead as a father as well as the romantic relationship. There are several smutty scenes for readers looking for some spicy reads. I recommend this book to historical romance readers.

Westerns aren't normally my jam but I kept hearing people rave about this book so I took a chance, and I'm glad I did.

The Prospector's Only Prospect is a great found family, slow burn romance. I really liked how the romance developed between Marigold and Virgil. They slowly fall in love and I enjoyed them gradually letting the other person in, in particular Virgil. Virgil was a tortured past that's left him with scars (emotional and physical) so it was so nice to see him start to let people in and learn to love again. Plus the slow burn definitely delivers in the steamy scenes! These two were desperate for each other. Chemistry off the charts!

I think if you enjoy grumpy/sunshine, fish out of water stories, slow burn with steamy results, and found family you'll love this.

If you love grumpy heroes, witty banter, and chemistry that sets the room on fire this book is for you. I had a smile on my face for most of this story.
Marigold is written in a way that makes you feel her confidence along with her vulnerabilities. As a stand in for her sister she goes to meet the man who advertised for a bride. She becomes housekeeper and nanny to his three children but is also drawn to Virgil, a man who may be nothing but trouble — at least to her heart.
Virgil is strong and confident but also vulnerable in a way that touches you in unexpected ways. He isn’t sure what to think of Marigold except for a physical attraction he can’t shake. She’s not at all what he expected when he sent for a wife but he needs her for his children. Is it possible he needs her for himself too?
I found this book to be enjoyable and well written. In my opinion there was a little too much graphic sexual content in both thought and action. A little less would not have detracted from the story. That being said, I would read more from this author. She has a way of writing banter that is spot on.
I was given a copy through NetGalley courtesy of Amara and this is my honest opinion.

I LOVED this book!! I loved how she was looking to get married and she was like a mail order bride and he wasnt really interested in her even though he paid for postage to go to pick her up and he was like you aren't what i was looking for because your hair an look is different from what you sent me. I loved the one carriage trope where they had to be together and the back talking. This was so sweet and he was like feeling bad for her yeah you can come an be my housekeeper but you can tell it was like a slow burn romance enemies to lovers in a way. This author wrote such an amazing book i couldn't stop reading it and I read it in a day and a half I couldnt stop. I am a lover of western books and I read other books like this as well and have loved it. Thank you for letting me read this!

100% opinions are my own.

An interesting, compelling historical story with well developed, complex characters trying to thrive in a harsh world, “The Prospector’s Only Prospect”, by Dani Collins (Entangled: Amara), explores a most unlikely romantic relationship while dealing with three precious children and some strenuous circumstances.
Virgil and Marigold are such unique, wonderful protagonists, both so wounded by life and so in need in something, someone good: love, permanence, a family.
Dani Collins really excels writing a vibrant romance between them, full of nuances, fears, emotions and complicity.
I loved how Collins shows that beneath the gruff, scarred, sometimes unpleasant hero (“harder than a rock”) lies such a lovable person; it is perhaps proof of the author’s talent, as we watch the grumpy man be so tender with his children and thoughtful and protective with Marigold.
I liked the progression from strangers to friends and lovers, the tentative affection and trust building between them and how Marigold earned her place in the small community.
The plot, the secondary characters and their interactions were interesting, too. The hero’s children are amazing.
I also enjoyed the deep affection and camaraderie between the characters and how Marigold adapted to this new life even with all the challenges she had to face. She’s a resilient, strong, intelligent woman.
I appreciated the dispassionate take on gold prospecting, how Collins recreates its difficulties, everyday struggles, adversity and wider implications; but also how it entails the very essence of the American Dream.
Some parts of the story are sad, raw, a bit hard to read. But it’s a moving, very pleasurable read; I always love Dani Collins’ writing style, infused with humor and depth, and enjoyed this incursion into historical frontier fiction.